Women’s expression through art

The Women in Art Exhibition opened at six this evening at the Mexican Institute in Belize City. The yearly showcase puts women’s art on display through eighty pieces of paintings, photography and handicraft combined. The exhibition is being staged through the National Institute for Culture and History in partnership with the Mexican Embassy. Curator of the Exhibition, Ilona Smiling, explains why female artists are being celebrated through their work.

Ilona Smiling, Curator, Women in Art Exhibition

Ilona Smiling

“For the exhibition this year, we are doing like we always do. We have an exhibition that caters specifically for the female artists in Belize. We have different genres on display today. We have impressionism from Ms Yao Ling. We have different artists such as Valerie Penner, Chelsea Johnston. We always have beautiful pieces from our artists. The dolls and baskets comes to us all the way from down south. We have awesome folklore dolls made by Ms Mercy Sabal. Then we have some amazing embroidery paintings from Ms Ingrid Cayetano and we also have a small piece from her grand-daughter as well on display. We just want to give all artists the opportunity to show and display their work. As an artist myself, I always take these exhibitions very seriously and we might not always have the opportunity to do it but I always want to make sure that the exhibitions we have showcase different arrays of artists. I want the people of Belize to realize that our female artists are just as talented and we do have strong pieces for everyone to see.”

The exhibition closes on April thirteenth.